


What's Snapchat?

by breeisonfire



Series: Shutter 'verse [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash, Set sometime in 3b, Snapchat, sterek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:23:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breeisonfire/pseuds/breeisonfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek's back in Beacon Hills, and everyone decides he should get Snapchat. Against his will. He totally does not start to enjoy it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's Snapchat?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is based off a post I saw in the Teen Wolf tag by accident and suddenly went, "That's genius!" This post from prettiestalpha on Tumblr:
> 
> "i want a fic where Derek is forced to download Snapchat by Stiles and Scott onto his phone despite the fact he thinks he would never use it but Cora starts sending him pictures whilst she’s still away and he’s back at Beacon Hills and Cora sends goofy pictures to make Derek laugh and Derek decides to give it a go and starts to pull faces, like cross-eyed & tongue out photos and pulling weird faces in his wolf from and then he send a picture of himself mid-laughing and accidentally sends it to Stiles and when Stiles opens it, seeing Derek really laughing and only gets to see it for 10 seconds and Stiles falls in love with the way Derek laughs and sets himself a mission of getting Derek to laugh like that again. And Stiles is determined to make it happen."
> 
> I saw it and had to write it. This is set sometime in 3b, and I didn't have a beta. This might be the beginning of a series. I've got some more ideas.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It starts when he first comes back to Beacon Hills.

He heads straight to his apartment, tired after a long day of driving, but the apartment is dusty, and the cabinets are empty. The bed has no sheets on it, and really, it’s depressing. So he cleans up a bit before his stomach growls. Then he heads out to the grocery store, because he’s had enough fast food on the road to last him the rest of his life. Maybe he could revive his old love for cooking.

He’s in a relatively good mood as he shops, despite the fact that Cora stayed with the pack she’d been with for the past six years and that he’s back into a town that holds bad memories for him. It’s drastically different from the last time he’d come back to Beacon Hills.

The last time he came back, he’d found half of Laura’s body.

Before he can go down that path in his mind and ruin his mood, he hears a loud noise. He turns when a familiar scent hits him, and he knows what he’ll see before he sees it.

Stiles is standing down at the end of the aisle, staring directly at him. Two cans of soup are rolling away from him, dented from where he’d dropped them. Derek isn’t sure what to expect -- Stiles has never exactly been predictable -- so he’s surprised when Stiles’ face actually splits into a wide grin. He ignores the cans and hurries down the aisle to Derek.

“Hey!” Stiles says brightly. “I didn’t know you were back in town.”

“I just got here,” Derek says. He takes a second to look at Stiles. When he’d left, the teenager hadn’t exactly been in the best shape, a head injury from a car crash and an overwhelming scent of panic, just barely changing into relief as he’d clung to his dad. Derek had actually been worried about him when he’d left, but he hadn’t tried to contact him, unsure _why_ he constantly wanted to call him.

Stiles looks older. It pains Derek to realize this. Stiles is around the age Derek was at the time of the fire, and the look in his eyes is one that Derek recognizes. One of someone who’s seen too much and been faced with losing everything. He looks tired, like he hasn’t really been sleeping. His hair is a little longer than Derek remembers, but it was still up in the same spikes. His shoulders are tense, like he’s been worrying a lot, but at the moment, his face is excited and bright, animated in the way only Stiles has ever been able to do.

“Are you staying?” Stiles asks, and Derek hears the underlying note of uncertainty, like Stiles isn’t really sure what to think.

_That makes two of us_ , Derek thinks before he nods. Stiles grins again, and Derek is hit with a weird sensation. He hadn’t really expected anyone to be glad to see him, considering what had happened in the past, but it looks like Stiles, at least, is happy he’s back.

Stiles is talking again, so Derek pulls out of his thoughts, trying to keep up with the talkative teen.

“Have you seen Scott yet? Probably not, he would have mentioned it earlier. You haven’t missed much. I mean, we met a witch, but she was just poking around and Mr. Argent decided he would take care of that. Without telling Scott, which pissed him off. He’s actually been a pretty good Alpha, if you can believe that. He’s been trying to get the pack together, which so far has been going pretty well. Or as well as can be expected, with this group. Hey, we’re going to get together for a movie night tonight, if you want to come?”

Derek had forgotten how much Stiles talked. Cora had been the only person he’d really talked to for the past four months, and she, like Derek, didn’t like to talk. Their conversations often reminded them of what had happened, of who they were missing. He hadn’t realized how much he’s missed the way Stiles rambled. It's a nice contrast to the silence he’d been faced with while he’d been driving back on his own.

“Maybe I should ask Scott first,” Stiles continues before Derek has a chance to answer. “Although personally I think it would be funnier if we don’t tell him and you just show up. We’ll get treated to Scott’s old ‘what the fuck’ face. I miss it.”

Despite himself, Derek snorts, and Stiles looks victorious as he pulls out his phone and dials Scott. Derek suddenly realizes he’d somehow been talked into this without really agreeing. He narrows his eyes as Stiles, who just grins innocently before Scott picks up.

“What’s up?” Derek hears Scott say. He’s surprised at how much older Scott sounds. He supposes it was the Alpha in him that aged him. It’s kind of sad. Scott, like Stiles, is a teenager, and he shouldn’t be forced to deal with this. Not for the first time, he hopes Kate Argent burns in the lowest circle of hell. It all goes back to her.

(That’s something he’s been working on. He’d confessed the full story to Cora, and she had in turn told him it wasn’t his fault. It was slow going, but Derek was finally starting to believe it.)

“You’ll never guess who I ran into at the grocery store,” Stiles says. Derek rolls his eyes, but Stiles is clearly unperturbed.

“Who?” Scott asks, and Stiles takes a deep breath, clearly planning on being dramatic. Before he can say anything, Scott interrupts him, “Stiles. I’m doing homework. Who?”

Stiles lets out the breath. “Fine. I ran into Derek. He’s back in town. And he says he’s staying.”

“Really?” Scott says, and Derek is taken off guard by how _happy_ Scott sounds. “How is he? Did you invite him to movie night? Oh, God, he’s still there, isn’t he?”

Stiles laughs, and says, “Well, he looks good, yes, and yes.”

“Is he coming?” Scott asks, and Stiles looks at Derek, echoing the question with his eyes.

And Derek had thought his return to Beacon Hills would cause a fight. He’s a bit overwhelmed by surprise (and gratitude, even if he isn't going to admit it to even himself) to say anything, so he just nods.

And Stiles’ face lights up again, like Derek's announced Christmas is coming early, and he says, “He’s coming!”

“Great,” Scott says, and Derek can hear his sincerity. He wonders what alternate universe he’s stepped into, because he’d come to accept the fact that he and Scott were only going to get along when their lives depended on it. Apparently Scott's changed his mind. That's a nice surprise.

“Does he know we’re watching the first Star Wars movie?” Scott asks, and Derek raises an eyebrow. Stiles is still grinning that stupid grin, and Derek is pretty sure his face is going to start hurting from that soon.

“He does now,” Stiles says. “Now go do your homework. You’re watching the Star Wars movies if I have to trap you in a circle of mountain ash.”

Stiles hangs up without letting Scott respond and Derek raises his other eyebrow. Sometimes he's convinced Stiles would make a great Alpha. Actually, that's a scary thought, so he turns back to the soup he wants and grabs a can.

“So,” Stiles is still standing there, although the grin is gone, and he looks more serious. Derek’s tensing up for some kind of problem to be brought up, but Stiles just asks, “Is Cora here?”

Derek lets out a silent sigh of relief before he shakes his head. “I took her back to the pack she was with before she came back. She and I agreed it was a good idea.”

Stiles nods, although Derek can smell his disappointment. He’s again surprised. He hadn’t known Stiles had been that close to Cora. He pretends to read the ingredients in the tomato soup he’s holding to hide his surprise.

It’s quiet for a second. Derek would think Stiles walked away if not for his heartbeat, loud and steady in his ear. He wonders if something is wrong when Stiles speaks up again, asking another question.

“Are you okay?”

Derek blinks in surprise and looks up at Stiles. The teenager is watching his face, every inch of his being conveying how serious he is about this question.

Derek thinks about deflecting him, of snarling at him or glaring or something, but he knows it won’t work. Maybe it would have when they’d first met, but he’s learned that he respects Stiles too much now to try and intimidate him. Stiles has proved his loyalty more than once, has come through for him more than once, and to disregard all of that after all they’d been through would be an insult to both him and Stiles.

He considers the question. He knows Stiles doesn’t mean it the way it sounds. Out of everyone, Stiles understands the most that he isn’t okay. That he’s probably never going to be okay. Stiles is asking him if he needs any help, if he’s stable. Stiles is making sure Derek isn’t going to head off and break down somewhere, or worse.

And surprisingly, when he thinks about it, he thinks he is stable. For the first time since the fire, he’s starting to move on. He knows he’ll never be the same carefree kid he’d been before, but he’s no longer the angry young man he’d been when he first came back to Beacon Hills, either. He’s not really sure what he is anymore, but maybe he’ll finally be able to figure it out.

He realizes Stiles is still standing there, waiting patiently for an answer, and he knows he can’t lie to him, even though he’s pretty sure Stiles has been watching him and knows what he’s about to say.

“I’m getting there,” he finally says, and Stiles, for once, doesn’t say anything, doesn’t push, just nods. Derek appreciates the gesture, and puts the can of soup into his cart before turning back to Stiles.

“What time?” he asks, and it takes Stiles a few seconds to catch up with his train of thought.

“Oh!” Stiles says. “Well, that depends. It’ll be at Scott’s house. He’s doing homework, which means he’ll be done in about an hour. Isaac will probably already be there, since there was lacrosse practice today. Allison and Lydia will show up about a half an hour after Scott texts them with food, and I think we’re eating pizza tonight? So if you want pizza, in about an hour and fifteen minutes would be good. The movie will start as soon as Scott’s mom leaves.”

“The twins?” Derek asks. He doesn’t know if he can handle seeing Aiden and Ethan. He knows they helped them in the end, that they eventually pulled their heads out of their asses, but he can’t think of either of them without seeing Boyd, feeling his blood on his hands, hearing his last words.

Apparently Stiles senses this, because he hastily says, “No, they left town not long after you did. Scott gave them a choice, either to submit to him or leave, and they chose to leave. I think Danny still keeps in touch with Ethan, but he doesn’t mention them anywhere near Isaac. Since, you know, we told him what happened. He’s still new to the whole thing, I don’t know what he thinks about this all.”

Derek can’t help but be relieved that the twins have left. It takes a weight off his shoulders, and Stiles, unfortunately, notices. He doesn’t comment on it, just gives Derek a knowing look, then moves on.

“If you want any certain snacks, you’re going to have to bring them with you,” Stiles says. “That was the rule we made, because Lydia likes healthier, organic food, and Scott and Isaac tend to eat a lot, and Allison has this weird thing about peanuts or something, I don’t even know. So everyone brings their own snacks and drinks.”

Derek nods.

“Uh, I think that’s it,” Stiles says. “I really need to go now, though. I’m making my dad dinner so he doesn’t use it as an excuse to go eat burgers and curly fries. It’s bad for his health.”

Derek fights a grin and nods, grabbing another can of soup and going to turn away from Stiles. Before he can turn fully, he pauses, looks at Stiles, smiles, and says, “See you later.”

He walks off, hearing Stiles echo his comment a few seconds too late.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before Derek knows it, he’s standing outside of Scott McCall’s house, a bag of Doritos, a box of popcorn, and a six-pack of Dr. Pepper in his hand, and debating about ditching. He’s never been good in social situations. Even before the fire, he’d always felt kind of separate from the others, and he’d always been kind of awkward.

Except this is the pack. This is Stiles, and Scott, and they’ve already made it clear that they're happy to see him. And if Isaac, Allison, and Lydia aren’t so happy to see him, he can deal. They don’t have any reason to be.

On second thought, that doesn’t make him feel any better.

Before he can make up his mind, the door flies open, and Stiles stands there, grinning again like Derek being there made his entire day.

“Hey!” he says. “Scott heard you drive up. Come on in.”

Derek follows him in. He hears Scott and Isaac debating over something he doesn't really understand. He’s not entirely sure, but he thinks Mass Effect is a video game. He hopes it's a video game. Although he’s pretty sure he’d remember if something called Reapers took over.

Stiles leads him into the living room, and Derek sees Scott and Isaac sitting on the couch. Isaac sees him first, and stands, an easy grin on his face.

“Hey, Derek,” he says, and he bumps shoulders with Derek. Derek gives Isaac a small smile, too, glad to see the Beta in good spirits.

And then Scott is standing, and Derek takes a second to inspect him. He was a little worried as to how Scott would take to being an Alpha, considering how poorly he’d taken to being a werewolf, but he’s pleasantly surprised.

Scott’s grown. Not physically, he’s still a few inches shorter than Derek, but Derek can _see_ the Alpha in him. He sees it in the way Scott holds himself, taller and with an authoritative posture. His hair is a bit longer, not as long as it had been when they’d first met, but it longer than he remembered. His eyes are serious as Scott inspects Derek, too, but there’s a light in them Derek is pretty sure wasn’t there when he left.

In short, being an Alpha seems to be a good look on Scott. It seems to have been therapeutic for him, helping accept the wolf in him in a way Derek hadn’t ever been able to convince him to. That’s another load off Derek’s shoulders. He’d felt guilty for leaving right after Scott had become an Alpha, but now he sees it was okay.

He meets Scott’s eyes, and Derek tries to communicate without speaking what he's feeling. He wants to join the pack. Earlier, he’d been on the fence about it, but seeing the way Stiles and Isaac had reacted to him, and seeing Scott, he’s made his decision. He wants to join the pack, even under Scott’s rule, because he can’t go back to being alone, and he can see that Scott’s adjusted. He’ll just have to get over his pride issue and help in any way he can.

And Scott understands him, because a second later, Scott’s eyes flash red, and Derek feels his eyes flash blue, and there’s that snap, that bond, one that Derek hadn’t been able to forge in his own pack, and hasn’t felt since the fire, the bond that means a good pack. He feels Scott, his Alpha, solid, with an earthy feel that reminds Derek of the way Laura had always felt to him.

He lets himself feel the rest of the pack. He feels Isaac, more fluid, like water, the way he’d always thought of Cora before the fire. He feels Allison, fierce like fire, who feels a bit surprised -- no doubt from the new pack addition -- but not upset. Lydia feels more like air and is not the least bit surprised by what has occurred. Stiles feels like electricity, full of energy, and Derek is surprised, because he reminds him of the way Peter had always felt.

This happens in seconds, as Derek adjusts to this feeling, the connection that he hasn’t felt for years, that he’d used to take for granted, and though it hurts to feel different people, he revels in the feeling. He’s been on his own, without the crutch of a good pack, for so long that he’s able to pull up real joy at the new one. And if he feels surprise from the others as they adjust to him, he doesn’t care, because he can feel it, and that feeling makes him feel safer than he’s felt in a really long time.

Stiles clears his throat, pulling Derek out of the trance, and Scott blinks too, like he’d been in one. His eyes flash red one more time, but then he blinks and they're brown again. He nods at Derek, and Derek nods back.

“Well,” Stiles breaks the silence, of course, and Derek looks at him. He’s grinning again, but before he can say anything else, Derek hears a car pull up and he can feel that it’s Allison and Lydia before he even hears Lydia say anything. He waits in the living room with Stiles and Scott while Isaac goes to open the door, and then Lydia and Allison come into the room, each carrying a few boxes of pizza. Isaac’s got a few, too, and Derek, who still hasn’t ate anything, hears his stomach growl.

Without a word, Derek follows the others into the kitchen, where Lydia, Allison, and Isaac put the pizza down on the tables, and then the girls turn towards him, and Derek waits. He has no idea what to expect from either of them, although from what he’s seen so far he assumes it’ll shock him.

Lydia’s the first to move toward him, and she stops right in front of him before smiling.

“Welcome home,” she says. She holds a hand out to shake and Derek follows her lead, shaking her hand. He’s glad Lydia has accepted him. After he'd come to terms with the fact that Peter had used her against her will to revive him, and after the Jennifer mess, he’d come to respect Lydia’s brains, maybe accept her as a friend. She, like Stiles, had a way of just getting under his skin.

Then Lydia steps back, and Allison steps forward. Derek tries not to feel any dread. He and Allison had never really gotten along. Derek resented her at first because she was an Argent and seemed to be close to Kate, then because she was getting in the way of his training of Scott, and then because her mom had tried to kill Scott, and the time she’d put a lot of arrows into his pack. There was a lot of well-deserved resentment between them, but Derek knows he isn’t completely guilt-free, and he’s willing to come to a truce between them in the name of pack. Allison and the Argents would be good allies, and even though he’s not up to date in the latest on the Scott-and-Allison show, he’s pretty sure he’d get mad if he said anything against her.

Allison looks at him, and Derek raises an eyebrow at her, and she nods, accepting his presence. Derek mentally sighs in relief. She may not be warm to him, but she wasn’t mad he was there, and this meant they would work together, even though the many issues they needed to work through. Which somehow Derek is pretty sure Scott will try to make them work on.

Derek feels a bit more at ease as they start eating pizza, and Stiles and Lydia begin to talk about something Derek is pretty sure he’ll never understand. Scott and Allison are shaking their heads fondly, and Isaac is pointedly not paying attention. Derek sits there silently, eating his pizza, and is privately glad that they know him and aren’t going to try to force him to talk.

This lasts about twenty minutes, and then Scott looks like he suddenly remembers something and looks at Derek. Derek tenses, hating himself for dreading a question but not able to help it.

“Where’s Cora?” he asks. Derek relaxes and swallows his bite of pizza before answering.

“She’s with her pack,” he says. “The one she stayed with after the fire. We agreed it was for the best.”

Derek is surprised when Scott and Lydia both look sad. He’s not surprised about Isaac, since he’d known the two of them had become good friends, and he’s not surprised when Allison doesn’t react. As far as he knew, they’d interacted all of three times, and he’s pretty sure most of them involved them fighting each other. But she doesn’t look or feel happy about the news, so Derek counts that as a victory.

“Is she okay?” Isaac asks. Derek nods.

“I get a text every hour,” he says. “A new picture of her. She’s mad because I don’t have something called Snapchat?”

Stiles chokes on his pizza. Scott stares at Derek. Isaac snorts at both of them, and Lydia and Allison both roll their eyes.

“You don’t have Snapchat?” Scott asks as Stiles recovers.

“I don’t even know what it is,” Derek feels some of his old irritation coming back. He _really_  doesn’t like being out of the loop.

“You don’t know what Snapchat is?” Stiles demands.

Derek just gives him a look. Once upon a time, that would have shut him up, or at least changed the subject, but now Stiles just gives him a look in return and holds his hand out.

“Give me your phone,” he says. Derek raises an eyebrow, but pulls his phone out of his pocket. He figures there’s nothing too incriminating that Stiles can do on his phone and hands it over, hoping to God he was right.

Stiles fiddles around with it for a minute before looking up and asking, “What’s your email?”

“Why?” Derek is curious and a bit annoyed now.

“You need it to sign up for Snapchat,” Stiles says.

“What the hell is Snapchat?” Derek demands.

Lydia takes pity on him and answers before Stiles can. “Snapchat is an app that lets you share photos and videos with other people you have in your contact list.”

“Like texting?” Derek deadpans, and Scott and Isaac both laugh, and even Allison cracks a smile.

“Well, sort of,” Lydia’s fighting a smile, too. “Except you can add text and drawings to the pictures, and you can set a time limit on how long the person you send it to can look at it.”

Derek thinks it’s stupid, but tells Stiles his email and allows him to run him through the basics of Snapchat. He has no idea why Cora wants him to get Snapchat, but he lets Stiles add everyone to his contact list, and then steals his phone back from Stiles, giving him a half-hearted glare when Stiles tries to take it back.

He sets out taking a picture and ends up taking a picture of his half-eaten last piece of pizza. He finds the button and adds, “How the hell does this even work?” and sets the timer at ten seconds before sending it to Cora.

Her response is almost instantaneous, and he opens it to see a picture of Cora smiling at the camera, with text that says, “YOU GOT SNAPCHAT.”

Stiles is looking over his shoulder, and Isaac is over his other shoulder, and Derek thinks, _what the hell_ , and takes a picture of himself with Stiles and Isaac, adds the text, “Thanks to certain people.”

Cora sends back a video of her saying hi to both Isaac and Stiles. Stiles steals Derek’s phone again and takes a video of the kitchen. Scott waves happily at the camera, and Lydia gives the camera a warm smile, and Allison even waves. Derek raises an eyebrow when it’s aimed at him, and Stiles laughs. He’s sends it and then gives the phone back to Derek.

Melissa McCall comes in and greets them, and greets Derek like he hadn’t left, and Derek decides that he really does like Scott’s mom. He’s suspected it for quite some time, but now he’s sure.

When she leaves, Stiles yells, “To the living room!” and goes to run around the table to get into the living room. Scott gets to the door first and blocks Stiles, who crashes directly into him, and falls backwards onto Derek, who was in the process of getting up. He catches Stiles before he can hit his head on the table, and pushes him back to his feet. Stiles is suddenly bright red and shoves his way past a laughing Scott.

In the living room, Derek finds this movie night has been a routine for a while now, and there’s a seating arrangement. The girls get the couch, and Scott and Isaac get the chairs, which leaves Derek on the loveseat with Stiles. Derek’s phone goes off, and he looks at it as Stiles and Scott set up the DVD player.

It’s a picture of Cora waving at the camera with a caption that says, “Hello, everyone!” Derek shows everyone, and it’s met with quite a few smiles. Derek sends back a picture of the group sitting around the living room.

This happens several more times. Cora starts sending pictures of herself making faces, and Stiles is looking over Derek’s shoulder when he isn’t spouting random facts about the Star Wars universe. Stiles decides he should be in the pictures as well, and he begins making faces over Derek’s shoulder. Derek starts adding text that says, “Help me,” and “I’m sorry,” and his personal favorite, “He’s just jealous he’s not as pretty as you,” which elicits an indignant, “HEY!” from Stiles. As he’s shushed by Isaac and Lydia, Derek fights back his laugh and sends it to Cora.

A minute later, he gets a picture of Cora that says, “Don’t worry, Stiles, you’re very pretty.”

Stiles snorts. Derek starts to think he likes this Snapchat thing.

At the end of the movie, which Scott falls asleep in the middle of (which is something Stiles whines, yes, _whines_ about), Allison is the first to leave, as her dad wants her home. Lydia stays a bit longer, catching a ride with Stiles, but the sheriff wants to talk to Stiles about something, so he can’t stay long. Derek follows the two of them out, since he parked behind Stiles’ Jeep, but he stops in the door, looking back at Scott. He takes a deep breath and says, “Thank you,” before hurrying out to his car.

He hears Scott respond as he’s hurrying away, with a, “No problem. Welcome home.”

His next Snapchat picture to Cora involves the text, “What is my life?” to which she responds, “The hell you asking me for?” and Derek shakes his head and has to laugh.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derek falls into a routine in Beacon Hills. He starts volunteering at the fire department, deciding to face his fear head on. If nothing else, he can prevent other tragedies. It’s nice to feel like he’s actually doing something, instead of constantly being on the lookout for the next thing to happen. When Stiles asks why, he just shrugs and says, “It feels appropriate.”

No one pushes it, although Stiles starts texting him at the end of every shift, as if trying to make sure he’s still okay. He appreciates it and tries not to get too irritated when Stiles goes off on wild tangents that confuse him.

He’s now Snapchatting with Cora regularly. She’s kept up her new hobby of making the weirdest faces possible, and Derek can’t help it. He joins in. He makes the funny faces she’s already made, and then starts to get more elaborate, shifting and then making the face.

He’s just sent Cora a particularly funny one (he’s shifted, making himself look buck-toothed with his fangs, his eyes crossed) when he snaps an accidental picture of himself laughing. He laughs some more, feeling lighter than he has in a long time, and goes to send the picture to Cora, too.

Unfortunately, his hands are still shifted, and his claws are not good at operating touch screen, so instead of Cora, his phone decides he’s clicked Stiles, and it sends the Snapchat before he has a chance to figure out what was happening.

He stares at his phone for a moment before letting out an annoyed huff. It’s not like he hasn’t Snapchatted with Stiles before, because Stiles Snapchats so often Derek has to occasionally turn off his notifications. It’s that he’d wanted to send it to Cora, and now he can’t. Stiles wouldn’t comment on it other than to send one back of himself doing something stupid like holding a banana (Stiles seems to find them fascinating; Derek still has no idea what to do with him). It would have been much worse if he’d sent it to Allison, or Lydia, but Stiles will take it in stride.

He’s right. About ten minutes later, Stiles sends back a picture of him eating an Oreo with the text, “Oreos are fucking delicious.”

Derek will never admit he laughs at that.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stiles has decided that Snapchat is one of the greatest apps ever invented. It’s very entertaining to send a picture of himself holding up a banana to the pack and see the various responses he gets. Scott’s is always, “That’s bananas!” which Stiles then has to pretend to laugh at (it’s somewhere in the Bro Code, he thinks). Lydia usually gives him a fact about bananas. Allison’s is never consistent, but his favorite was when she sent back a picture of her also holding up a banana with the text “CLONES.” Isaac usually responds with, “I hate bananas,” which Stiles in turn treats as blasphemy until they both remember they like pizza and Star Wars and get over it. Derek always responds with some sort of picture of his confused face and text that questions Stiles’ sanity.

He’s just wondering what he should Snapchat to everyone next when his phone chimes, telling him he has a new Snapchat. He grabs it and opens it, and sees it’s from Derek. When he clicks it, he’s taken by surprise.

It’s Derek. He’s laughing. Honest-to-God, happy, delighted laughing. Stiles has never seen him look that happy, and relaxed. It makes him look younger, and his eyes are brighter. The constant look of pain in his eyes is absent for once, and Stiles can’t help but stare at it.

Then ten seconds pass, and the picture closes on his screen. Stiles curses himself for not screenshotting it, and continues staring at the phone.

He doesn’t know why Derek sent the picture to him. There was no text, and Derek almost always added text, so he’s inclined to think it was accidental, but he’s glad he got to see the picture. He’s always seen Derek plagued with pain. The Derek in that picture was one who was free, if only for a second, and Stiles is suddenly hit with the need to see it again.

He looks at the picture in his mind, glad he had a pretty good memory, and can’t help but think about how attractive Derek had looked. He’d always thought Derek was good-looking, but in a brooding, leave-me-alone kind of way. The picture painted him in a whole new light.

He wants Derek to look like that more often.

He resolves to start working his hardest to make Derek laugh like that again. He tells himself it’s for the good of the pack, for Derek’s own good, and resolutely ignores his burning cheeks as he imagines the picture again.

Finally, he goes to the kitchen and pulls out an Oreo, taking a picture of him eating it. He types, “Oreos are fucking delicious,” hits send, and sits down.

He’s got a lot of work to do.


End file.
